The Secrets of Isla
by sneddyteddy
Summary: She could see herself splashing through the shallow water and her mouth making silent screams.She saw the look of terror on her face, and then the worst came.She saw the long black hair spread across the wet rocks, then the face.Stone cold dead gray eyes.
1. The Lake

**Author's Notes: **Just so you all know, Isla is pronounced like EYE-luh. I hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think!

**The Secrets of Isla**

**Chapter One**

**The Lake**

Each girl slowly followed the one in front of them. Never before had this walk through the trees been so awful and quiet. Kagome could hear Ayame crying from behind her, and when the light from her flashlight fell onto Sky's face, it glistened too. Sango was in the front, forcing them to keep moving. To continue on to do the hardest thing any of them had ever done their whole lives. Lives they had all spent together. These woods used to be their hide out, their sanctuary, now it made them sick just thinking about entering them again.

It was the first time since the accident.

The darkness felt like smog invading their lungs and choking any courage they may have had out of them. Nothing seemed as it once was. The trees were tall and foreboding and nothing moved or made a sound. Time stood still in this once beautiful world they had loved so much, until it stole something precious from them. The silence was enough to drive anyone mad.

None of them knew why the four of them were out their in the middle of the night. They knew the excuse they had all agreed upon, but it was something so much deeper. Every gut-wrenching moment since the accident, lying awake for hours in bed, staring blankly off at school, countless skipped meals, every moment of it each girl felt the urge to return to where it happened. But really, why would you want to return to where your best friend had just died?

Sky's fingers squeezed the flower in her hand tighter and let the thorns rip through her skin. She was shaking non stop and her stomach kept wrenching inside of her. This path brought so many overwhelming feelings back to her mind that she wished someone would just knock her out.

It made her remember. Remember when the five of them were kids and they had first found the tree house in the woods. How they were astonished to see their mothers names each carved into it. It was their secret, and now it was their daughters' secret, to be kept even from them. The sunny afternoons of playing with her friends went whizzing through her mind at full speed like a roller coaster, except the upside down turn was still to come.

Next she remembered running. Running so fast her legs were sure to burst open, but she didn't care. It was raining. Raining the hardest it had in years. The place she thought so fondly of was now one of utter fear. Soaked to the bone, they arrived at the lake.

Sky jerked herself away from the memories bashing against her skull. It terrified her to know they would only seem more real when the water came into view. It was just around another turn in the path. She stopped abruptly and Kagome bumped into her, apparently lost in the memory as well. "I... I can't do this..."

Tears started to pour violently down her cheeks, but she remained silent. Sango took a few more steps, as if believing if she stopped, she would never get going again. She slowly came to a stop. "Why are we doing this, guys? How is this supposed to make us feel anything but sick and scared?" She spoke for the first time in a week. She turned around and they all saw she had tears on her face as well. She looked older. Huge circles were under her eyes from not getting any sleep. They all looked a bit different.

"You _know_ why we're here. Maybe if we pay respects to her, then we can stop feeling so guilty. Maybe actually be able to sleep at night and eat food without wanting to vomit," Ayame's voice was trembling fiercely.

"Stop it," Kagome looked down to the cool dirt path. She couldn't look any of them in the eyes, but someone had to say what she knew they were all feeling. "We didn't come back here to pay respects... something is haunting us." She stopped and let a few tears fall, her throat was burning from trying to keep them inside. "I can't sleep at all anymore. I'm terrified to be in my room alone." She stopped again and then slowly let the words fall out," I feel like something evil happened here that day. I don't think Kikyo just slipped." It was finally coming out. What they all felt in their guts but refused to let it be said. "I don't think Kikyo's death was an accident."

"Well what exactly do you think it was then?" Ayame snapped. "Do you think she jumped there on purpose? You think she died on _purpose_? That's sick! Kikyo would never do anything like that, she was happy!" Ayame was balling by this point and tears were now falling without hesitation from the other three as well.

It was silent for a while before Kagome whispered, "That's not what I'm saying at all." Sky breathed in heavily and let her sobs shake her body before she knew she could speak with a decent voice. "I think we all need to start saying what we really think. We know she didn't commit suicide, but the truth is, we don't really know _what_ happened."

"It's exactly like what the police determined… she slipped. It was pouring down rain after all," Ayame said this in an angry tone but Sango narrowed her eyes at her. "Now Mia, if you really believed what you just said, you wouldn't be here right now." Sango walked closer to her and put her hand on her shoulder. "We have to do this if we ever plan on getting on with our lives. For some reason, Kikyo is calling out to us." Ayame raised a still skeptical eyebrow. Sango rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on. I don't mean like an actual ghost speaking to me. I mean the feeling in my gut that we have to come back out here. I don't know if we will actually find anything, but I think it will put us a peace."

Sky didn't think it would put them at peace at all. She knew she would be haunted by this until the day she died. None of them would have ever come out here alone, but for some reason on that day, the worst day to do it, Kikyo did. She had paid for the mistake with her life.

Why?

Her death was a mystery to everyone, especially to the four girls who had found her body. Kikyo's crumpled form on the rocks of the shallow edge of the small lake flashed through Sky's mind. This should have made her run away as fast as she could and never ever come back, but some freak force of nature made her start to walk on down the path after Sango. That day started to flood her brain again. Rain. Running. Fear.

The lake.

It was tucked into the side of a steep hill. It had a circular shape and half of it was surrounded by cliffs. Across the half that was hidden by these rocks a thick wire was hooked to each side. Sky could see the small compartment box hooked to the wire that they used as a platform. On hot summer days they used to come to the lake.

One by one they would pull themselves out to the center of the lake and jump off the box into the deepest part. The others waiting on the side would use a pulley to get the compartment back to them. Not being complete dummies, they knew how dangerous this contraption could be, so they vowed to never use it unless at least three of them were there. But Kikyo had broken this promise.

The water's edge was coming into view. It looked eerie, it was impossible to believe this was where they had spent all those happy memories. Not a single ripple touched its surface so the water looked dead and frozen. Kagome could feel her stomach turning itself inside out. Her heart and soul were screaming at her. _Run! Run away and never look back! _But her feet were stubborn and determined. They refused to let her turn, no matter how much she craved to.

When they reached the edge of the water they stopped dead. Their eyes fell over the familiar sandy shore, then the same old rocky hill, all the way up to the wire…then the box. It was only about seven feet from the rocks they used to climb into it. Sango tried her hardest to keep her eyes focused on it because the next spot to look was down. Then all four of them were staring at it. Sky kept getting ripped from that moment to the past. She could see herself running and splashing through the shallow water. She could see the look of terror and shock on her face and her mouth screaming silent words. Then, the worst came. She saw the long black hair, spread across the wet rocks, then the face. Her big gray eyes were dead. Stone cold dead.

She snapped herself away from those eyes and shook her flashlight a little, "Might as well get this over with," she muttered before starting to walk along the water's edge toward the rocky hill. She stepped on a forgotten strip of police tape. This made her think of something else that was very odd. When their mothers had found out about Kikyo, of course they were horrified, but when they told them how they had found their old tree house it sent them over the edge.

Kagome had never seen her mom look so terrified when she finally found out just where they had always snuck off to. This was the reason they were doing this in the middle of the night. Each mother had absolutely forbidden the girls from ever coming back to this place. Alright, why in the world would they want to come to the place that had traumatized them just a week ago? And yet there they were. And why is it unreasonable that they wouldn't want their daughters going to the place their friend had died? That would have been fine, had that been their mother's real reason. But instead, it became another mystery they had to find the answer to.

Kagome had gone with Sky and they made sure to give a certain spot of the water's edge a wide range. They had learned from a long time ago experience that although this spot was in the shallows, it was actually a huge drop off. They were almost past it when Sky suddenly stopped. She stared at something in the water while Kagome bobbed from foot to foot. She was completely on the edge and just about anything at that moment would set her off.

Sky leaned in close to the edge and stared at it curiously. "What's up?" Kagome asked, trying to cover up her fear. "I thought I saw…" she trailed off. She knew what she thought she saw, but to say it in her head and to say it out loud was a whole different story. Just then a twig snapped loudly in the brush just by where they were standing. Kagome whipped around and her huge yellow backpack hit Sky in the back.

Sky slipped on the muddy edge and fell straight into the black water, only a small squeak of surprise managed to escape her mouth. The water was now no longer motionless, however, Sky was no where to be seen. Kagome started screaming for the other two and frantically searched the water's surface with her light. They came running over to her, all three hearts were pounding so hard it would have been a relief to cut them out right then and there. This just could not be happening!

Sky felt herself lose balance and dive into the black endless pit. She wasn't absolutely terrified until something began wrapping itself around her legs and yanking her down to the depths of the darkness. Kicking with all her strength and flailing her arms through the water didn't seem to be doing any good. Inwardly she was screaming as she began to get low on breath but was still being pulled down further and further. _I can't believe this is how I die!_ She gave one last surge of strength when a bright light lit all the water up around her.

Suddenly the three could see a bright light coming from the water. It was so brilliant that it seemed to light up half of the lake. Sky was now in their view but she seemed stuck, only able to flail her arms about, her dark hair swirling around her struggling form. Now without a second's hesitation the three jumped in to try to assist their struggling friend.

Kicking their legs with all the power they had they started to swim down the side of the drop off. Every time they almost reached Sky it seemed like she would be dragged down that much further. Sky was beginning to feel dizzy and her head was pounding so she stopped trying to kick. Instead she finally looked down to see what the light was coming from. Squinting to see through the harsh pink glow something began to come into view. A square outline stood exposed against the rocky bottom. She noticed that she was getting sucked towards this thing and when she looked up, she saw that her friends were now in the water too. They were moving down much faster than they could swim so she figured they were now caught in this current as well.

Sango was now almost next to Sky she was getting pulled down so fast. She could see the source of the pink light. Forcing her eyes to push through the intense glow she finally realized what they were being dragged towards… a very old looking well. What on earth was a well doing at the very bottom of a lake? She didn't have time to ponder this question because the next thing she knew, they were being sucked inside.

Sky let herself give in to the pull, but before she was completely lost to the light and the well's depth, she looked up and saw something behind Kagome. It was what she thought she saw before she fell into the water. A girl's face was staring at them, watching them being sucked into the well. And what freaked her out the most was that this girl... was smiling.


	2. Stuck

**Author's Notes: **Chapter two up! please review and tell me what you think so far!

**The Secrets of Isla**

**Chapter 2**

**Stuck**

Ayame landed with a thud on dark cool earth. She finally opened her eyes that she had been squeezing shut for what had felt like hours, but in truth had only been the past few minutes. She, and the other three, were down at the bottom of the well, but something was seriously wrong. There was absolutely... no water, and the sun was creeping its way down into the hole. "Guys… what the heck just happened?"

The other three were looking around in a very bewildered way as well, Sky was struggling to catch her breath and water was running down her chin after every rough cough. "I dunno…" Kagome spluttered with a cough, "That definitely takes the top of _my_ weird list." Sango was already standing and her head was tilted back, a grim look on her face as she calculated their next move.

"It's gonna be tough just getting out of here, let alone finding out where the hell _here_ is," she groaned. Sango was about four inches under six feet and there was still another six feet or so from her head to the top. "Hmm…" She turned to help Kagome up. "Do you think if we boosted you, you could reach that?" She pointed to a thick vine about five feet up. "Sure," Kagome nodded.

"A little _help_, girls," Sango eyed the two still sitting on the floor in impatience. It was a well known fact among them that Sango and small spaces, especially a very cramped small space, did not mix well. Sky rolled her eyes and stood up, offering her hands on Kagome's right as Sango had done on the left. Kagome stepped up onto Sango first, leaning on her shoulder while she tried to balance her other foot on Sky's hands.

They both slowly started to rise up while Ayame held her hands against Kagome's back for extra support. "Jesus Kagome, have you been sneaking some extra fries at lunch time?" Sky groaned, Ayame giggled behind her and Sango muttered under her breath in agreement. Kagome glared ferociously down at her but knew if she decided to retaliate it would be her butt hitting the floor. She stretched her arm out and her fingers were just about to touch the vine. "A little higher."

The two holding her winced slightly when she said this but continued to raise her even more. Kagome finally reached it and held on tightly. Using some of her own strength she pulled herself up and grasped onto the next vine pinned across the dirty wall with her left hand. She could now stand on the two girls' shoulders since her whole weight was no longer on them. Holding herself tightly to the wall she was just about to the point where she could peek over when she heard something she didn't expect.

"Just shut up and leave me alone!"

"You have _got_ to get rid of that attitude, dogface."

"I said _shut up_!"

"Do you two always have to be like this? I mean really, I feel like I'm pet-sitting."

Ayame looked at Sango curiously before tapping on Kagome's ankle. She hesitated before pulling herself up just over the rim to see what was going on.

"Just listen to him for once, I mean… that girl was so hot!"

"You think anything with legs is hot you pervert."

Kagome saw the boy being referred to and to her surprise he didn't look offended in the least. The three boys looked to be in a conversation they had many times before, however, she stopped watching them and slowly took in her surroundings. They were in fact in some sort of woods, but most definitely not under water. A boy with black hair and a small arrogant smirk patted the other on the back.

"I suppose he thinks his perfect girl is just gonna fall right out of the sky and into his lap with the way he keeps sending them away," the boy accused as a pervert nodded his head in agreement and smiled at the third when something seemed to catch his eye. "Well what do we have here…?"

Kagome's insides cringed when she realized he was looking directly at her. Her palms got sweaty when the other two looked in her direction and slowly, her hand started to slip. "Uh… uh… AWW!" she plummeted for the ground and felt the other three crumple beneath her. Without too much guilt, due to the earlier comment, she realized she had landed on top of Sky for the most part. "Yep… definitely been sneaking some extra fries," Sky groaned as she pushed Kagome off.

When they looked up they saw three outlines of three heads staring back down at them. "Hmm… much more fitting. The girl that's right for you _would_ crawl out of a hole rather than fall from the sky." One of them pummeled the one who had spoken so only one silhouette remained staring down at them. "Are you lovely ladies alright?"

"Do we _look _alright?" Sango groaned as she shoved Ayame's foot out of her armpit. Even though they couldn't see his face, they could tell he was smiling. He disappeared and they could hear him breaking up the other two. "Why don't you two get those demon muscles working and jump down there to save the damsels in distress!" the pervert chided.

"Do I _look_ like I wanna jump down into a dirty hole?" one said. Sky looked over to the others, "Does it _look_ like I'm a damsel in distress?" She said in a dry tone before overdramatically batting her eye lashes for effect. Sango snickered and Ayame giggled until a head popped over the side again. "They look so puny," Kagome recognized his voice as the arrogant one. "12 feet or so can do that to you," she muttered.

"Since his majesties seem to be inadequate to jump down to save you, we'll send down a rope and pull you up, alright?" They heard two growls coming from the other two. "Why don't _you_ jump down there, Miroku?" He seemed to ponder this for a moment before breaking into a huge grin. "That's brilliant! Why didn't I think of that before?" He only had one foot over before the others pushed him to the ground, each rolling their eyes. "Can't ever take him anywhere can we? Look out below!"

They carelessly tossed the heavy rope down the well and it not so delicately landed on Ayame's head. "Ouch…" She looked around at the other three with a silly grin on her face before her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground. "You idiot!" Sky screeched," You knocked her out!" The boy who tossed the rope shrugged," Maybe you should be less particular in the way you want to be rescued, now stop nagging me and grab onto the rope."

Sky glowered up at the outline of the head she wanted to rip off. "Oh I'll grab it alright, and then I'll grab your scrawny little neck," she snickered while seizing onto the rope. She started to rise quickly, and without much care, so before she knew it she was staring into the boy's face. Her jaw dropped slightly when she spotted something unusual coming out of the top of his head. "Why do you have dog ears on your head?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, her anger momentarily forgotten. He narrowed his eyes at her," Why are you soaking wet at the bottom of a dry well?" She stopped and thought about this… he had a good point. He lifted the rope over the side as if she weighed nothing and shook it over the grass.

She unwillingly "let" go and landed with a thud on her butt for the second time in minutes. Normally, she would have been furious, but instead her jaw dropped open completely as she looked around. They were definitely no longer in the lake, but they weren't even in the same woods. Just a short time ago they were in their woods in the middle of the night. Now she didn't even know where they were and the sun was seeping down through the trees. As the wonder started to wear off fear began to grow in the pit of her stomach. "What have we done?" she whispered to herself.

She didn't notice the small triangular ear flick towards her as the boy lowered the rope back down. Once his attention was no longer on her she started to take in his appearance, which was really unlike anything she had ever seen her whole life. His hair was long, for a boy, and was silver, even though she knew he wasn't much older than she was. His eyes were the most fascinating thing about him though; it was something like staring into a cat's eyes. His pupils were more like slits rather than round and their color was like melted gold. He sensed someone was watching him.

"What's so interesting, my good looks or incredible charm?" He smirked as he started to pull up someone else from below. Sky snorted in sync with another, a boy that was standing off to the side leaning against a tree with his arms across his chest. His long dark hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and his light blue eyes rolled at the boy before winking at Sky. She felt the blush on her cheeks so she quickly got up to help Sango over the side, a gift of mercy since she knew that the boy would not be so kind.

He put the rope back down again but Kagome refused to take it. "I'm not just going to leave Ayame down here," Kagome shouted from the well. "Well I'm not gonna stand around all day and wait for her to wake up!" The boy holding the rope shouted back down. Kagome glared up at him," You should! It's your fault that she's knocked out in the first place! You're the one who dropped the rope on her head!" The boy rolled his eyes and backed away, letting the rope drop as he walked over to a tree and sat under it. He crossed his legs and his arms in defiance to let them all know he was no longer going to help. Sango realized just how bad of a foot they were getting off to with them and felt a little queasy. "Strange new place and we're already pissing off the freaky natives…"

The tall boy leaning against the tree tossed his apple gallantly to the side and walked towards the well. "I'll rescue you!" he shouted down as if he thought he was superman and batman all rolled into one. "Oh brother," Sango rolled her eyes as Sky laughed at him. He landed lightly next to Kagome. He flashed a big grin before scooping down and picking her up. "Let's get out of here then, shall we?" He was just about to jump out when Kagome tapped his shoulder. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked while pointing down to Ayame and trying to squirm out of his arms.

He looked mildly surprised to see another girl on the ground, apparently he hadn't noticed her at all. Reluctantly he set Kagome down and scooped Ayame up in her place. "Now you just hold onto my shoulders and I'll get us all out of here." She, not at all as thrilled as he thought she should be, grasped her arms around his neck and held on tight as he jumped out. When she finally emerged with a bruised butt she lost her breath for a few seconds. Her eyes met Sky's and she knew they were both thinking the same thing. _Oh shit._

"I suppose you might be a little confused judging from the looks on your faces," the boy who had been slowly gravitating to Sango finally spoke. _Confused? Are you joking? Why would you think we're confused? I mean of course we just got yanked down to the bottom of the lake into a freaking well and then ended up in some freak alternate universe where boys have dog ears on their heads. But no biggie!_

"My name is Miroku," he gave a small bow. Miroku had a small black ponytail and was wearing a funny outfit made from violet fabrics. His eyebrow rose towards the other two. "Don't you have something to say?" The boy who apparently fantasized about being a superstar waved," I'm Koga." He winked at Kagome and still had Ayame in his arms. Miroku rolled his eyes and motioned toward the boy still sitting under the tree. "That loveable little guy over there is Inuyasha," he said the last word a little slower, as if he were expecting a special reaction from the girls. When they simply stared at him his brow raised curiously.

Apparently Inuyasha was surprised at the reaction too because he stood up and strode towards them. "Don't you know who I am?" he asked the question in a strange way. It wasn't arrogant or anything, but almost like he _wanted_ them to say no. Sky stared at him, pretending she was thinking really hard before answering, "Nope, can't say I've ever seen you before in my life." He stepped back and thought for a moment before finally saying," You know what to do. He warned us this might happen one day. Let's take them to him."


End file.
